Family Time: After-school health 101

Weekly family rail, with tips on after-school health, a review of “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs,” another scary book and more.

Tip of the Week

We all know the importance of having three well-balanced meals a day; however, it is equally important to extend the same healthy practices to snacking. Snacks should be viewed as a fourth meal for kids, as they account for a substantial percentage of your kid's daily energy and nutrient needs. Developing healthy snacking habits early may have more of an impact on your child's overall health than you realize. Here are some simple solutions to improve your child's well-being by planning an active and healthy after-school routine.

- Get them involved. Kids who are involved in planning meals are more likely to eat them. Even if your kids don't accompany you to the grocery store, getting them involved in the creation of the shopping list is a great way to help your child develop healthy meal planning skills for life.

- Make it easy for kids to grab exactly what they should be eating. Place the items you have designated as acceptable after-school snacks toward the front of the shelves, where shorter arms can easily reach.

- Stock up on smart snacks. Make sure you have portioned, kid-friendly and easy-to-eat items in the fridge and freezer.

- Keep active with after-school activities. Experts suggest that children should have 60 or more minutes of aerobic activity each day. This may sound like a lot, but don't worry. There are plenty of opportunities for kids to meet the daily amount of recommended physical activity, especially after school.

-- ARA

Family Screening Room

“Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”

Rated: PG (for brief mild language)

Length: 1:30

Synopsis: The move adapted from Ron and Judi Barrett's book illustrates a world where giant pancakes and pasta fall from the sky as a scientist tries to solve world hunger. However, things go terribly wrong when excess amounts of food overload cities and towns.

Violence/scary rating: 2

Sexual-content rating: 1

Profanity rating: 1

Drugs/alcohol rating: 1

Family Time rating: 2. This is a great movie for the whole family, and parents who remember the book should get a kick out of it, too.

(Ratings are judged on a five-point scale, with 5 being “bad for kids” and 1 being “fine for kids.”)

Book Report

Halloween is coming up fast, so to get your children in the mood for the spookiest holiday of the year, we’ll be featuring scary books in this space over the next month.

“Bone Soup,” by Cambria Evans

Ages: 4-8

Pages: 32

Synopsis: Known across the land for his infamous appetite, Finnigin is never seen without his eating stool, his eating spoon, and his gigantic eating mouth. When Finnigin finds himself in a new town on Halloween, he hopes to join a great feast with the creatures who live there. But not a body or soul will share any of their food with the ever-famished Finnigin. So what’s a hungry skeleton to do? Armed only with his wits and a special ingredient, will Finnigin be able to stir up a cauldron’s worth of Halloween magic?

Did You Know

77 percent of children ages 2 to 17 have had a dental checkup in the past year, according to CDC.org.